Articles

In my last article I talked about how you can use social engineering for your benefit. But the reverse is true too, someone can use social engineering on you, to their benefit, with you in the dark. In fact, odds are good that at one point someone has attempted to use social engineering techniques on you. In bad situations, this ... Read More »

Social Engineering is a scam artist’s best trick. It’s pretty much as it sounds, you engineer society in order to do things you shouldn’t. A few common examples would be wearing a safety vest and hardhat to sneak onto construction sites for urban exploration, wearing a lanyard and carrying a clipboard to get backstage of a concert without being asked ... Read More »

Money laundering. There are many definitions involving terms like criminal proceeds, illegal/illicit, processing, disguise, concealment, true nature and ownership. Some even describe it as a three stage process: placement, layering and integration. Most people who get convicted on money laundering charges are not even aware of different phases of things they did. They merely tried to make dirty money look ... Read More »

In the last article, I talked about the appropriate configuration of the Tor browser and the steps to follow to further strengthen our privacy. Now, weâll see how it is possible to have our data leaked even if our Tor browser is working in the right manner. The first thing to point out, is that Tor encrypts our communication only ... Read More »

Tor is a renowned must in the anonymity field, and the first fundamental step in your fight for privacy. You could think that the only thing that you need to hide your identity while surfing the web is to download the Tor browser bundle, but this is not enough. There are, in fact, wrong behaviours that can reveal your real ... Read More »

We all know cybersecurity threats grow each day and, in these times of increasing danger, it is of great importance to test your websiteâs security before burglars do. While even the most dull-witted system administrator is able to run a scan with Nmap or Nessus (though he could ignore the myriad of options these scanners offer), it results slightly more ... Read More »

Who are droppers? If you need to cash an ATM card or withdraw money from a bank account you cannot do without a dropper. It is surely possible to hire a newbie, who knows nothing about responsibilities and the specificity of this activity. In this case you can pay him a penny but you can run into problems. The thing ... Read More »

On the air of radio station “Echo Moscow”, Gennady Gudkov, the colonel of the Federal Security Service of Russia shared his ideas on how a state spies upon its citizens. Laboratory Kaspersky recently published a report about finding a large server grouping which might be connected with the National Security Agency of the USA. This grouping implemented software tracking tools ... Read More »

With Darknet Market use growing, there is an increasing amount of deliveries being seized. Is there potential for an anonymous postal service in which orders get delivered under the radar, or is it just not possible? The deep web is often used as a means of anonymously ordering goods â normally anything other than what youâd call legal. With this ... Read More »

Cryptocurrencies rush has embraced the whole world – digital money allows people to invest, pay for goods, services and surely earn. Interest in them is stimulated by an unprecedented rising cost. Today, bitcoin is the first and most popular cryptocurrency, it emerged in 2009 and was widely used as a means of payment already in a year. The cryptocurrencies rush ... Read More »

When it comes to keeping your OPSEC on point you need to make sure you are keeping all your coins anonymous. âDirty coinsâ are crypto coins that have strong links to illegal activity â you donât want this. Basically, to stay safe, you will want to clean your coins (probably Bitcoin). When one thinks of cleaning their Bitcoin the first ... Read More »

Cybercrime is commonly understood to include a broad range of criminal activities that use computers, digital devices, and the Internet. Despite almost 40 years of incidents, cybercrime still does not have a universally accepted definition in literature. Most authors classify cybercrimes based on the role of technology and criminal modus operandi. Weâre in a world right now where children younger ... Read More »

Have you sold drugs online? Are you interested in sharing your views about online drug trading, the darknet community, and what law enforcement and the media are saying about you? If yes, then we are interested in talking to you! We are a team of independent âuniversity researchers conducting anonymised âinterviews with people who sell, or have sold, drugs on ... Read More »

The Silk Road was by far the first cryptomarket, or darknet marketplace, to gain international recognition in 2011 as an online trading platform facilitating illicit drug trafficking. Since then, the number of darknet marketplaces have greatly increased, and even though a wide range of illegal products are offered on these online marketplaces (stolen credit/debit cards, weapons and counterfeited legal documents ... Read More »

The deep web has opened the door to a novel way of illicit drug trading, via what is referred to as darknet marketplaces or cryptomarkets. Users can now safely purchase illicit drugs from the comfort of their homes, compare products and their prices offered by various vendors, while avoiding being busted by law enforcement agencies (LEAs). Cryptomarkets also greatly reduce ... Read More »